Questioning the character of Trump’s female accusers perpetuates inequality

Earlier this month, The Washington Post released a tape of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about his ability to “kiss” women and “grab” them by the genitals without their consent, claiming that when a man is rich he can “do anything” to women. What followed was a slew of allegations from women who claimed Trump had subjected them to the exact manner of treatment he described in the video, along with renewed attention on existing allegations. These ranged from business partners and reporters to an unnamed plaintiff, who claims she was 13 years old when Trump allegedly raped her.

Emilie Skoog | Daily Trojan

In a Monday interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Trump’s wife Melania Trump was tasked with offering her side of the story and attempted to humanize him, who has subsequently been widely portrayed as a sexual predator. When it came to the accusations of assault levied against her husband, Melania Trump responded: “I believe my husband. This was all organized from the opposition. And with the details that they go, did they ever check the background of these women? They don’t have any facts.”

Melania Trump’s refusal to believe the accusations against her husband is understandable, but her justification that Americans should assess the validity of these claims by poring through the “backgrounds” of these women advances a dangerous myth propagated by rape culture — that in order to believe women who report assault, these women must be perfect. Despite statistically low rates of false reporting from assault victims, they must have flawless histories and nearly bulletproof narratives involving conservative attire, no alcohol and no sexual history in order to be believed. In citing their backgrounds as relevant evidence to dispute their claims, Melania Trump plays into the dangerously high standards society puts on victims and survivors of sexual assault.

This tactic was similarly used by her husband, who not only led smear campaigns against the women accusing him based on their pasts and encouraging supporters to do same, but additionally cited the appearances of his accusers to defend himself from their claims. Of People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff who accused him of groping and kissing her against her will, Trump said, “Look at her, I don’t think so”; of another accuser, Trump said she “would not be [his] first choice.”

Just as some believe assault accusations against former President Bill Clinton were politically charged, many Trump supporters have also argued the allegations are motivated by politics. They question why the women didn’t come forward earlier, as the dates of the accusations range from the 1980s to 2013.

Criticizing and doubting individuals who report their experiences after a substantial amount of time has elapsed is another tactic to dismiss and write off victims, who understandably hold their silence to avoid retribution, attacks on their character, stigma and abuse, all of which the women accusing Trump have faced since coming forward. With audio of Trump apparently boasting about his ability to assault women, it is likely that Trump’s accusers understandably believed they would have considerably more credibility coming forward.

In the same interview with Cooper, it is worth noting how Melania Trump likens her husband, who was 59 years old at the time he made these controversial comments, to a “teenage boy” who was “egged on” by television personality Billy Bush, despite the fact that Trump seemed to bring up the topics  and boast about his treatment of women by his own accord. This facet of the interview offers just one more glimpse of the many ways men accused of abuse are absolved of responsibility, which in turn is shifted to demonized female victims.

Questioning the credibility of victims by bringing up irrelevant aspects of their pasts, criticizing when they choose to report and highlighting circumstances of the men in question that humanize them all serve as methods to often absolve powerful men like Trump of responsibility. Melania Trump, her husband and his supporters have all fallen back on a culture that is far too demanding of victims of assault and lenient on its perpetrators to defend him. This country needs to begin to support assault survivors. Tearing them down feeds into an already vicious rape culture and threatens equality under the law.